Logitech MX Mechanical Mini: A developer’s Review

Introduction

As I wrote in my Review of the Logitech ERGO K860, lately I have been experimenting with various desk setups to have as comfortable and as forgiving desk setup as possible. As a part of these efforts, I have been experimenting with shorter keyboards as well. The theory goes that with a shorter keyboard your right hand does not have to travel extremely far to get to the mouse which reduces the stress on your shoulder.

So, I have decided to give the Logitech MX Mechanical Mini a try. So, here are my impressions.

Straight to the Point

The Logitech MX Mechanical mini is a supremely well-done keyboard which is, if you put the price on one side, almost perfect for the average developer or an office worker but for the mechanical keyboard enthusiasts, it is seriously lacking.

While I personally couldn’t care less about customising my keyboard, the fact that you cannot change the switches because they are soldered in and that you cannot change the key caps completely, as the spacebar is non-standard will be a deal breaker for the hardcore mechanical keyboard enthusiasts out there.

There you have it. If you’re interested in details, however, then keep reading.

Detailed Review

Design

The keyboard comes in a two-tone grey colour scheme with aluminium plate beneath, which makes it look very elegant and high-quality, albeit just a tiny bit boring. But keep in mind, this is less a gaming keyboard and more an office one. I like it very much as it fits the decor of my desk and computer room nicely. As far as I can see, only the Mac specific model is available in pale grey as well.

The charging port is USB-C, which is located on the right, next to the off/on switch. The key caps have both Windows and Mac symbols where applicable and I certainly like that approach much more than having to physically change the key caps, so even if you are strictly a Mac user, I would still suggest going for the “universal” version as it is simply more flexible. That is, unless you have your heart really set on that pale grey version.

The keyboard does come with feet which enable a 8º tilt but I would still prefer a possibility of two different tilt degrees, like with the ERGO K860.

The keyboard features Backlighting with a smart detection sensor which should intelligently adjust the backlighting to the lighting conditions in your environment. However, you can still increase or decrease brightness manually. Another sensor will detect when your hands approach the keyboard and turn backlighting on, and it will turn it off when you move away. However, the keyboard only features white backlighting, which makes sense as this is not a gaming keyboard. You can choose between few backlight effects with or without using the Software.

Switches

As I already stated, I do not know very much about mechanical keyboards. What I do know is that there are three types of switches in existence – red, brown and blue. And you can get this keyboard in either variation.

To put it more precisely, when buying this keyboard you can choose which switch types you want, but unlike like with “hardcore” mechanical keyboards, here the switches are not replaceable, so you should decide very carefully what is important to you.

They are to be understood something like this:

• Rea – also called linear switches, are the quietest and react smoothly to the touch, so not a lot of force is needed to activate them. That means they have a short travel distance and are meant for people who prefer to have a “fluid” typing experience. This makes them usually the switches of choice for gamers.
• Brown – also called tactile are the compromise between the red and blue switches. They are in the middle, meaning they do provide a tactile feedback or “bump” when a key is pressed. The advantage of this is that you feel when you successfully press a key which could mean that you have fewer typing errors. They are not as quiet as the red ones, though but should still be okay for an office environment. This is the type I went for on this keyboard as even if I would prefer to have louder feedback – these switches are just little more flexible as you won’t bother others when typing. An if you buy a smaller keyboard, you should be able to take it with you without disturbing others, right?
• Blue – also called clicky, are the loudest and while they require in most cases the same force to actuate as the tactile switches, they sometimes feel “heavier” than the browns. What they do differently is that they have an additional mechanism that ensures that there is a clicky sound when they are pressed. This is what I prefer to use, but it is only meant to be used if you are alone and not in an office environment. Heck, they might even be unsuitable for teleconferences if you don’t have a a good noise suppression and tend to do other things on the side while being in a meeting.

Here is the sound of the tactile quiet switches my keyboard has:

Just for comparison, here is the sound of the clicky (blue) switches on my full-size Logitech MX Mechanical:

Please note that I simply recorded both by placing my iPhone near them and doing some typing. I do not have and did not use any external high-quality microphone or whatever youtubers and streamers are using these days. But hopefully, you at least got some idea about the difference between the clicky and tactile switches.

I do not own a keyboard with linear (red) switches, so for your homework, you can find out how they sound for yourself.

Typing and Development

The keys themselves feel good to the touch, even if I can’t escape the feeling that this is not the highest quality plastic there is, as they are not resistant to shine – or are resistant, just not as resistant as I would like them to be, for such an expensive product.

When it comes to general typing feeling, I found that the Tactile Quiet switches I have provide a really good feeling because you get the feedback that you indeed pressed the key but do not get that sometimes over-the-top sound you would get with the clicky switches.

While the very nature of the mechanical keyboards is such that you do have to use a bit more force than when using the membrane or laptop-like switches. Conversely, I found the feeling to be “crispy” when compared to the laptop keyboard, for example. As it is to be expected, because that is the very point of the mechanical keyboard.

When it comes to the development, though, it took me some getting used to when coming from a full-size keyboard. You see, it was not that easy for me to adjust to the Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Home and End buttons to be directly next to the Enter key, while arrows keys being directly connected to the Alt and Shift keys.

I imagine this has nothing to do with Logitech, but is standard for all 65% keyboards, but still, be warned that the adjustment might not be easy if you’re coming from full-size keyboards.

While positioning keys are essential for development, what is not essential is the numeric keypad, at least this was true for me.

What I believe it comes to is:

• If you’re a typical developer who doesn’t use the numeric keypad as much, then the potential drawbacks of switching to a 65% keyboard, namely that the position keys are in an unusual place, are more than offsite by the fact that suddenly your mouse is much closer to you which leads in fewer shoulder movements which tend to accumulate over time when switching between the keyboard and a mouse.
• If however, you heavily use excel or even the calculator, then a loss of comfort that comes with the numeric keypad being absent is not negligible and you should stay with a full size-keyboard. In that case, make sure to look at my review of the Logitech Ergo K860 ergonomic keyboard.

Batteries & Connectivity

The keyboard comes with a rechargeable battery which can be charged over USB-C. The battery, combined with the intelligent backlighting mentioned earlier should provide you with quite a comfortable experience, as with backlighting turned on, it provides up to 15 days of usage and with the backlighting completely turned off, up to 10 months of usage.

What I don’t really like though, is that even if keyboard can be used while charging, connecting it to the computer via the USB-C cable does not mean that it becomes a wired keyboard. The USB-C connection is still only used for charging, while the data transfer itself is still done via Bluetooth or a USB-dongle which might prove problematic for some people working in companies with strict IT policies which forbid the wireless input devices in the office. Whether these concerns are warranted or not, we will not discuss here. The point is that they do exist in some companies which effectively makes this keyboard less flexible when it comes to office work. Not only that but I can imagine some gamers as well not being completely satisfied with no wired connection.

Connectivity, as is usually the case when it comes to Logitech is otherwise particularly good, as per usual, you can connect the keyboard with up to three devices and switch between them with a press of a button. This has always been one of Logitech’s best features.

The keyboard comes with both Windows and Mac symbols both printed on the keys and the OS specific keys work automatically when switching to a particular device. I have tried using it on both Mac and PC using Bluetooth and can confirm that it works great with both systems.

Software

As always, I do recommend that you download the Logitech Options+ software as it enables you to reprogram almost all the function buttons.

If you have a Logitech mouse which supports Logi Flow your mouse cursor and switch from one computer to another seamlessly. The keyboard will follow the mouse as well, without the need for you to switch between devices manually.

I do own a Logitech mouse as well, but I didn’t test this feature myself, as honestly, I didn’t need it. But I guess if you ever need to transfer the cursor or even files between the computers, you can give it a shot. 

What stands out in the app though, is the ability to reprogram all function buttons per app, meaning depending on which App is currently active various buttons have distinct functions. If you are a power user, I would strongly suggest giving this feature a try as it has the potential to increase your productivity. However, be warned that you might miss this greatly when working on another machine. ‚

Conclusion

In my mind, this keyboard fulfils two purposes very well – it shortens how far your arm must travel to get to the mouse and thus improves the ergonomics. It is also low-profile which does additionally help with the ergonomics.

The second thing it does very well is that it brings mechanical keyboards to the regular people – it just does the mechanical thing well and this will be enough for everyone, except for very hardcore users.

However, if you’re looking for a very customizable keyboard, this does fall a little short.

When you combine everything, we have learned so far, this keyboard is worth it as it features great connectivity features, intelligent backlighting and a worthy mechanical experience for everyone.